Good signs for our cities

The ceremonial demolition of an abandoned building near downtown Schenectady and the recent surge in real estate sales in Albany and Troy are hopeful signs that we may finally be emerging from the devastating mortgage banking crisis.

Like so many homes in the poorer neighborhoods of the Capital Region, an abandoned house at 722 Eastern Ave. in Schenectady was deteriorated beyond repair. It symbolized the urban blight that has sapped vitality from our communities in recent decades and fueled the flight to the suburbs.

Last week’s demolition was funded through the Capital Region Land Bank, to which Schenectady, Albany and Troy belong. The state-sanctioned not-for-profit and others like it across New York have been effective tools in combating the decay in our cities by acquiring blighted, foreclosed properties for redevelopment.

The Schenectady building’s razing launched a revitalization plan for the lower Eastern Avenue corridor. More buildings that are beyond repair will be cleared to make way for new construction and funds will be provided to help shore up several other homes and businesses in the neighborhood.

The program came in part from the state’s share of a $25 billion settlement with some of the nation’s big banks that had engaged in risky mortgage practices that triggered the Great Recession. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has so far steered $33 million of the recovered funds to land banks, including the Capital Region’s.

Such investments in our cities are paying off, and the timing couldn’t be better. The latest data from the Greater Capital Association of Realtors details a growing trend locally of people returning to cities. Some of those are baby boomers looking to downsize; others are young adults, or millennials, who are just starting out. For many people, urban living is attractive once again.

While sales of single-family homes in most suburbs tumbled during the first six months of the year, they climbed in Albany and Troy, and were flat in Schenectady. Reporting by the Times Union’s Eric Anderson attributes the lure of cities to a combination of competitively priced homes and apartments, a younger generation looking for walkable communities instead of dependence on a car to go everywhere and an abundance of smaller-sized lots that don’t require the upkeep of a typical suburban tract.

City officials in our region should be quick to capitalize by updating their master plans and making capital improvements to support this influx. Investments in sidewalks, parks and in developing bike lanes through city streets are some of the ways to do this.

Those smart steps can augment efforts to replace blight with healthy neighborhoods, as the land grant program touted by Mr. Schneiderman does. Through all that, we can rebuild neighborhoods, house by house and block by block, yielding urban centers that thrive once again.

But the Democrats who run the city of Albany will never allow private developers build and sell high-rise condominiums because the high-rise condominiums will attract “baby boomers looking to downsize” from the suburbs. And too many suburban baby boomers are Republicans.

No developer is going to waste the time and money developing a high-rise condominium proposal for a city that hasn’t expressed any desire for high-rise condominiums.

I guarantee you that if Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan said anything to the effect that she wants to study the idea of high-rise condominiums for the city of Albany, she would get high-rise condominium proposals from every developer in the entire eastern half of the United States.

To get things started, if I were Mayor Kathy Sheehan I would want two high-rise condominium buildings like the one the third link above – The Miranova – which is in Columbus, OH.

Two of these buildings off of exit 23 of the NYS thruway. With or without the casino – there seems to be a lot of property there. The location is about 2.5 miles (as the crow flies) from downtown Albany.